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| Anti terror bill gets LS nod | | | Agencies
New Delhi, Dec 17: Lok Sabha passed the historic National Investigation Agency (NIA) Bill on Wednesday and also approved the proposed amendments. The main Opposition party, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) also backed the Bill in the Parliament.
The new anti terror Bill comes in the wake of Mumbai terror attack that shook the nation and made the country debate on the necessity of such a strong law that could prove both as a deterrent and a precursor in bringing terrorists to book.
The NIA Bill provides for the setting up of special courts for speedy trial of terror-related offences, with hearings to be held on a daily basis.
Under the new Bill the detention period is 30 days and the original 90 days time period is also kept so that if there is reasonable case of suspicion the court may extend the detention period to 180 days.
The petitions will be disposed within three months and after that if the court finds that there is reasonable ground of suspicion then the court may cancel the bail plea of the accused. It also puts the onus of proving oneself clean on the accused if arms and explosives are recovered from him.
The Bill also gives special concentration on tracing terrorist funding and organisations that are carrying out terror activities.
Apart from passing the Bill the Centre also proposes to set up a special Investigative Agency that will investigate terror related cases and can also take up some special cases from the state governments.
The Cabinet, which cleared the NIA and amendments to UAPA late on Monday night, saw the provisions for admissibility of evidence being rejected along with putting the onus of proof on the accused. Chidambaram was keen to include the admissibility of confessions, but this ran into political opposition from ministers like Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan. The option for a special law was also ruled out.
NIA, which would be headed by a Director General at par with the DGPs of states, would deal with offences of terrorism, counterfeit currency, violation of SAARC conventions like human trafficking, narcotics and organised crime, plane hijacking and violations of atomic energy act and weapons of mass destruction act among others.
Earlier, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had pitched for the new anti-terror bill in the form that has been okayed by the government. He also favoured bail provisions in the new bill by arguing that time is necessary to probe such crimes.
He said several states already have dedicated groups to deal with terrorist crimes. Maharashtra has Anti-Terrorist Squad while Delhi has Special Cell. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal too have similar police groups.
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